Your Favorite States Race

We had some incredible races at states, so I'm putting up a poll now for you guys to vote on your favorite race this weekend. Below I am going to write a brief synopsis of the race in as non-bias of a fashion possible.

3200 AAA
This race had so much potential going into it, and the boys lived up to the challenge and more! After going out in a hammering pace of 66's-68's they continued to roll hitting 4:29.29 for the first 1600 lead by Dominic Deluca and Tony Russell. They were closely followed by Kevin James, Ross Wilson, and Colin Martin. Deluca and Russell continued to hammer the pace for another 800m, but they began to slow down just a bit when they hit a 69 with two laps to go. Would this group go sub 9? Tony Russell picked up the pace again as Deluca was clearly feeling the pace that he had set after running a 9:03 the weekend before. Russell pulled away from the group as Martin, Wilson, and James did their best to follow. With 200m to go Russell had about 2.5 seconds Wilson and Martin. Martin just passed Wilson and looked to be the closes to catching up to Russell, while James had been slowly fading from the group. Something changed with 150m to go, as Ross Wilson put on a big kick, passing Martin who had no response. With 80m to go Wilson was barreling down the home-stretch towards Russell. With 60m to go they were neck and neck. Russell put his head down and gave everything he had, but Wilson gave no notice, as he continued to burn down the track. Wilson cross the line first, for the first time during a state championship, and he clocked 8:56.29. It's a new state record by over 2.5 seconds that has been around since 1983 by XC great Mike Connelly.

Tony Russell also broke Connelly's record with a time of 8:58.26. Martin continued to charge home in his goal to break 9 minutes, and he made it under -- 8:59.90 for 3rd place. The junior Kevin James kept moving to hit 9:03 for 4th place!!! Deluca's gutsy effort that helped the pace so much finished in 9:07, but his 9:03 solo district mark and 8:21 Penn Relays 3k will not be soon forgotten. Overall 8 runners hit under 9:13 to medal.

1600m AAA
11 Runners in the finals, all of whom ran quite fast to get into the finals, most hitting under 4:18. This race was going to be big. Unlike the 3200, nobody had the guts like Deluca to take the pace out hard and Brehm did most of the leading. The field went through the halfway mark in 2:12. With multiple sub 1:55 runners like Brehm, Belfatto, and Caldwell everyone knew the pace would get fast eventually, but how fast would it get, and when would they go? The 3rd lap Brehm picked it up quite a bit hitting a low 63 with Billy Caldwell right on his shoulder. Caldwell then made a big move on the back-stretch with 250m to go and almost passed Brehm, but he would not be denied his second outdoor state title. Brehm used his superior strength to sprint the last 200m to clock a 56.8 last lap to finish in a time of 4:11.73! Such a quick last 800m (1:59) shows he is in amazing shape and I have no doubt he can PR in the Mile again this year (he was a 4:09.27 guy last year). Caldwell did his best to match Brehm and he dropped a PR of 4:12.99! District 7 rivals Jeff Van Kooten (jr) and Nathan Sloan both hit 4:14 kicking past the chase pack. It took 4:21 to medal and under 4:19 for the top 7 spots on this hot afternoon.

800m AAA
Another extraordinarily deep field was brought together. Kyle Francis broke the state record indoors in an incredible 1:50 effort. Behind him were studs Jeff Wiseman and  Joe Logue who have both run under 1:52.10 this outdoor season. All 3 are from District One and Wiseman one that battle. Zach Brehm was coming off the Mile and Nick Smart had hit a few 1:53 splits this season and was looking to break out. Plus Will Cather who anchored his 4x8 team to a 7:41 win in a split of 1:53.20.

Jeff Wiseman took the race out very hard in a 25.3 with Kyle Francis right on his back. The rest of the field was a bit behind them in 26 mid. Wiseman continued to lead through 500 hitting a 400 split of 54.2. Kyle Francis made his first challenge on the back-stretch, but Wiseman denied him going into the turn with 200m to go. Wiseman was looking very strong and his denial of Francis could have put Francis away for good, but Francis used the turn as time to revamp. Coming off the turn he swung out into the second lane. Wiseman fought him off, but Francis gained just a bit of ground with every step and by 40m to go Francis had taken over the lead. Francis continued his flat out sprint all the way home to take his second individual state championship in a time of 1:49.57, just off the state meet record by Tom Mallon (1:49.21). Jeff Wiseman finished up very strong in 1:50.37. Behind them Joe Logue kicked off of the chase pack to finish in 1:51.45. Zach Brehm lead a group of 7 other runners in the 1:54 range to finish in 1:54.24 to place 4th.

Any time you've got a runner under 1:55 not medaling at the state meet you know the field is extremely talented and 6 of the 12 runners were on the double!

4x800 AAA
Every year PA seems to come up with some of the top 4x8's in the nation on both the girls and the guys side. This season didn't seem to be any different going into the state meet. Two teams, Pennridge and State College made it to the state meet and West Chester Henderson's 4x8 started to look really good at the end of the season. CB East also stayed totally fresh and North Penn always pulls together a strong team. The race went out in 1:57 lead by Boyertown and Henderson. It look until the 3rd leg with Mason Post going out in 54 for State College to finally get into the lead group. Post handed off into 3rd place behind a leading CB East, who ran their top leg, Frank Brophy 3rd, and West Chester Henderson. Will Cather decided to take it out hard and leave nothing left on the track splitting ~52.9 through the 400. He blew by sophomore Jake Brophy and Henderson's Steve Thompson. Cather pushed through the final lap to bring his team the second best time in the nation and a Gold medal with a time of 7:41.99! This leaves them at US #2! Behind them Thompson anchored his team to a 7:43.24 (US#5), CB East finished 3rd in 7:43.70 (US #9). North Penn's anchor Ryan Grace knew he had the 1600 later in the day, but this didn't deter him from going out hard and trying to catch the lead pack. His efforts helped the relay team finish in a time of 7:45.38, which is US #13! US #12 Pennridge didn't come together as they would have hoped, finishing in a solid 5th place with a time of 7:48. Behind them were 4 more squads under the 7:52 mark, which puts 9 PA teams in the top 45 in the nation for the 4x8!

I hope to see some of these squads continue to the national meet. Many of the teams had guys doubling and the prelims will take something out of you. For example 3 of State College's legs tripled the day before! I have no doubt this squad could clock under 7:40 totally fresh.

--ForrestCRN